To Prospective AP United States History students and their parents
Date: March 10, 2008
Part 1: Requirements and Expectations
You have expressed an interest in becoming a student in the Advanced Placement United States History course in the upcoming school year. This course is an in-depth survey of United States history from the days of the first settlement until a few years after the end of the Cold War. Our focus will be to learn the great movements and the specifics of American history and to use that knowledge to pass a college-level test in the spring. In order to do this, students have to master not only the relevant information, but also the skills necessary to present insightful analyses of that material.
The Advanced Placement course is designed to equip students with the factual knowledge and insight necessary to analyze critically the events and personalities in United States history. Students will be expected to work at a college level and should come to the class with the intention of achieving that level of effort and critical evaluation.
The primary goal of this course is to help students become true scholars of United States History. Another important goal is to prepare students for the Advanced Placement Examination in May, 2009. The second goal will follow the first easily and naturally.
There are several things you must consider as you decide whether to join this class:
a. The first is the amount of reading involved in the class. The textbook used in this class in past years and for summer work is a college text entitled The American Pageant. The book has forty-two chapters and is over one-thousand pages long. We will read the entire book this year. There will be supplemental readings from a book entitled A People's History of the United States, written by Howard Zinn, which each student will be required to purchase for the class. Students are also encouraged, and may be required, to purchase the book A History of the American People, by Paul Johnson. A student guide for the textbook is available and suggested. Students who have not read the textbook have generally not passed this class. If you cannot live up to a commitment to read all assignments as they are assigned, you should not take this course. Students must get a copy of The American Pageant from me before the end of school on May 18, 2008. Return the books in the Fall and you will be given the new AP United States History textbook at that time.
b. The second consideration is the writing which is an integral part of the class. You will be responsible for mastering the form of writing which is necessary for success on the AP test. Before you consider participating in this class, you should be confident in your abilities to write formal essays. You should be able to use insight to draw conclusions and parallels between separate events in history. Your use of grammar should be near perfect. You should have had success in your language arts classes over your years at MLK. If you have not had success as a writer, you will find it hard to be successful in this class and on the AP test. If you do not have good writing skills, you will have to do extra work over the summer break to improve those skills. You will have two essays assigned which will give you the opportunity to practice and exhibit those skills. The essays will be due the first day of class in August.
c. Third, students are required to come to morning review sessions that begin shortly before spring break and may continue until the AP test in early May. These sessions begin at 7:00 AM, or at lunch, as determined by the instructor.
d. Fourth, you will be required to write journals each week, tying the area of our study to current events. You should begin now and continue throughout the school year listening to and reading non-commercial news reports dealing with national and international issues.
e. You will be required to research specific topics in United States history and to present your findings in writing and orally to your classmates. In other words, as a member of this class, you will become a resource for your fellow students as they will become a resource for you.
Consider whether you can give the time necessary to complete the requirements of this class successfully. Consider your commitment to other classes, athletics, work, and friends before you decide to take this class. We begin at a fast pace and continue at that pace for the entire school year.
A basic competency in factual mastery, historical thinking, and essay writing are at the heart of the course. Students are responsible for learning the facts as presented in the assigned readings in the textbook before class discussions on the material.
By the end of the course, all students will be able to:
- identify important historical events evaluate their causes and significance
- assess the reliability of historical evidence analyze the motivations of various historical figures
- identify the implications of historical events
- give clear written and oral presentations of their historical analyses, assessments and insights
As you can see, AP United States History is a rigorous course of study. There are also benefits Advanced Placement has to offer over Honors United States History course.
First, the breadth of the course is wider than that of the Honors course. The honors course concentrates primarily on United States history since the Civil War. Advanced Placement concentrates on the entire history of the United States from European settlement until the present time.
Second, there is more opportunity for independent study in the Advanced Placement course. Since we cover so much material in a year, there are regular opportunities for students to do more in-depth investigation for extra credit.
Third, students have the opportunity to gain extra GPA points for successful participation in an AP course.
The advanced placement test has as an important component, a document based question. This includes a prompt which calls for the writer—the AP student—to analyze a situation or time in US history using their knowledge of the period and information and analysis of documents from the period (primary source documents).
Since the course requires so much participation on the part of each student, you must indicate your willingness to complete each assignment, including the reading and writing assignments. Please see me to discuss with him the skills necessary for successful completion of Advanced Placement United States History if you have any doubts about your skills or your commitment to participation in the class.
Part 2: Class Assessments:
Students will be graded on the following:
· Homework: reading assignments, preparation of short topics for class discussion (regularly as discussion leader); development of responses to prompts, studying for quizzes and tests. The first assignments that will be graded will be the summer essays that are detailed in Part 4 below.
· Projects: Students will complete and present to the class a major research project; possibly creation of a DBQ, including prompt, supporting documents, rubric and response and/or a project for National History Day competition on the theme: The Individual in History.
· Tests: Students will take major essay/multiple choice tests after each unit. They will additionally have unannounced quizzes on assigned readings. They will additionally respond to pervious AP Test essay prompts in and out of class as practice for the AP test, and they will take a complete practice examination in the spring before the AP test. This practice examination will be given under the same conditions as the actual test will be given later, and it will be graded in the AP style.
· Extra Credit: Students will have opportunities to explore local history and gain extra credit for doing so. There will also be opportunities for visiting historic sites, watching documentary films, and participating in the political process outside of class; all of which may qualify for extra credit.
Part 3: Instructor agreement
As your instructor, I agree to prepare you to pass the Advanced Placement United States History Test. Assignments will be designed to lead you to a comprehensive understanding of the chronology and implications of United States history.
Fred Artibee
Part 4: Subject: Summer Reading and assignments
Before the beginning of the Summer break, each prospective AP United States History student should come to my room (NW-20 in the Vocational wing) to receive a textbook for summer reading.
Over the summer, each student should read and take detailed notes on the following chapters in the textbook:
Chapters 1-7, pages 2-140
Assignments: Students should write five paragraph essays on the following topics: These essays will be due on the first day of class in August. Please do not attempt to complete all summer reading and writing assignments in the last two weeks of the summer break.
1. Compare the colonies established in New England and the Chesapeake. Consider the time
period 1607 to 1700. Consider the importance of the following in the lives of the colonists:
Family life
Religion
Disease
Native Americans
Indenture and slavery
2. In what ways did salutary neglect contribute to the development of a unique American character, politically and socially? Confine your answer to the period 1650-1763.
3. “In the two decades before the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, a profound shift occurred in the way many Americans thought and felt about the British government and their colonial governments.”
Assess the validity of this statement in view of the political and constitutional debates of these decades.
Your essays should be no more than 1000 words each and should be typed and checked for grammatical accuracy. Do not rely solely on the textbook for your information. Identify your sources. Do not use encyclopedias or Wikipedia. Students wishing to e-mail the essays before the first day of class may send them to the address at the top of this page.
Part 5: Contract: Parents and Student should sign and return this document to Mr. Artibee.
I have read the above document and wish to participate in the Advanced Placement United States History class for the 2008-9 school year. I agree to approach the class with maturity and will complete all assignments on time and as required.
__________________________________________
Student
I have read the above document and discussed the requirements of the class with my child and concur with his/her decision to take Advanced Placement United States History in the 2008-2009 school year.
___________________________________________
Parent or Guardian
___________________________________________
Parent or Guardian
Date________________, 2008